1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to rolled single cell and bi-cell electrochemical devices and method of manufacturing, which devices are of rolled layered construction with each separate layer individually fed and simultaneously rolled while the composite polymer electrolyte layer is wet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many advantages to rolled electrochemical devices such as batteries, which consist of layers of anode, cathode and electrolyte rolled about a core. Such devices possess greater power density than many other batteries due to their high surface area. Rolled batteries are difficult to manufacture by conventional methods where typically the anode, cathode and electrolyte layers are first formed into a stack and then rolled about a core. The layers tend to bunch up, crease, separate, require high energy to roll the composite and do not produce a satisfactory product. It is desirable to be able to produce a rolled device where the electrolyte composite is solid or semi-solid, which is even more difficult than rolling a stack of layers with a liquid electrolyte in a membrane. The use of liquid electrolyte also causes safety and other problems due to the difficulty of adequately sealing the devices. Such rolled electrochemical devices would include batteries, capacitors, and fuel cells.
The described electrochemical devices and their method of manufacture do not suffer from the prior art problems and provide many positive advantages.